This passage of scripture has
inspired hymns are arias. It gave a
foundation to the good news of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1-8). It is a reminder to us, as we take the
journey of Advent toward the celebration of the incarnation that God is
faithful. Flesh is like grass and like
the grass it will wither and fade, but God’s Word will remain. We all know the reality of fleeting
friendships. We’ve experienced times
when those we thought we could count on disappeared when the situation got
rough. If we take the story of Jesus to
the concluding chapters of his story we know that on the day of trial and
death, with few exceptions those closest to him fled. Life is like that, but God is faithful. God is like the shepherd who tends the flock,
gathering the lambs into his arms and guiding ever so gently the nursing
ewes.

This word we hear from this
prophetic voice is directed to the people of Judea who have been experiencing
exile. They have felt abandoned, and yet
here is a call to get ready, to take up the task of preparing the way for the
Lord God. It is a calling for us in the
interim to declare the goodness and the faithfulness of God to the world. With this word, we may offer comfort to the
neighborhood!

No comments:

About Me

I am a Disciples of Christ pastor, theologian, community activist, historian, teacher. I'm a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary with a M.Div. and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology. I'm the author of a number of books including Marriage in Interesting Times (Energion, 2016) and Freedom in Covenant (Wipf and Stock, 2015).